Chris Martins

October 10, 2013 –
The Blow have just dropped their first album in seven years — a statement of art-pop intent called nothing less than The Blow. An early announcement gave us an idea of the duo's revamped approach: "Khaela [Maricich] dreams about people and conversations and juxtaposed feelings ... Melissa [Dyne] dreams of being a beam of light bouncing off a Ferrari." The songs that followed were more concrete though: "Make It Up," with its fidgety synths and clever thoughts on love; and "From the Future," a confab with the moon about the oppressive march of time. Now, thanks to Stereogum, we have a video for the latter, which blesses the catchy track with charmingly homespun visuals: Maricich's hand turning the cloud-bedecked pages of a book to the beat. The Blow hit the road tomorrow (October 11) in Boston. Revisit their tour dates here.

October 10, 2013 –
A Tyler, the Creator show was canceled before it began in Los Angeles after riot police arrived to break up a crowd outside. The October 11 gig was meant to be a preview for Odd Future's upcoming second annual festival, the OFWGKTA Carnival at the L.A. Coliseum, on November 9. But the vehicle chosen for the hype-building event was the intimate Low End Theory club night — ground zero for the city's electronic music underground — held at The Airliner, a 140-capacity venue in the East L.A. neighborhood of Lincoln Heights.LAPD Officer Norma Eisneman told LA Weekly, "The event was at maximum capacity and the bouncer wasn't letting people in. They became unruly."Tyler was scheduled to perform with Flying Lotus — the latter in his rapping Captain Murphy guise — along with unannounced guests, and the show had been announced at least a week ahead of time.

October 10, 2013 –
Atlanta has a way of breeding its punks to be grade-A weirdos. The same town that's given us Black Lips, Deerhunter, and other wonderful cross-pollinations now offers up Carnivores. In truth, this five-piece band of psychedelic skuzz-pop bandits has been kicking around long enough to drop two albums and a handful of EPs, but something happened on the way up to their brand new LP, Second Impulse. The group discovered a deeper strangeness and wound up with a mix of surf-pop, post-punk, new wave, and garage rock. All of that is streaming below, from "Spell," which somehow sounds like the Zombies covering the Specials, to "Prom Night," a noirish ride through coiffed clang, to "Sinking in Your Automobile," which in fact features lead vocals from Black Lips rabble-rouser Cole Alexander. Second Impulse is out now on ATL's own Army of Bad Luck Records. Stream it here:

October 10, 2013 –
KOAN Sound were one of SPIN's favorite surprises at this year's Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas. The Bristol duo cut their wubs with old-school breakbeat funk, rap-addled glitch, and Warp-style weirdness — it's no wonder Skrillex snatched them up for his OWSLA imprint. Now Will Weeks and Jim Bastow expand their sound further by linking with their neighbor, the ethereally minded producer Asa, for an EP whose titular track can be experienced above.On "Sanctuary," live strings and drums help set an expansive aural scene — a light-dappled sound that merges the organically orchestral with the electronically epic.

October 9, 2013 –
The constituent parts of Dirty Projectors have been staying busy on their own of late. Amber Coffman, of course, is the bewitching voice on Major Lazer's still-excellent "Get Free." We saw Olga Bell play dress-up and take the lead in the video for Nothankyou's "Oyster." And Nat Baldwin also recently shared shared some solo material of his own — the collection Dome Branches which included "Look She Said" featuring DPs mastermind David Longstreth. Now, Pitchfork reports that Longstreth will be appearing at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art on November 1.While he won't be accompanied by his band, the man will hardly be alone. The Calder Quartet, who've accompanied everyone from the National to Airborne Toxic Event to Vampire Weekend, will join Longstreth as part of the Bartók Quartet Cycle series.

October 9, 2013 –
Sitting down for a "21 Questions" session with New York Magazine, Beastie Boys OG and NYC living legend Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz shared some inspired quips. (To wit: "What's hanging above your sofa?" they asked. "A sprinkler," he replied.) But the factoids he delivered might be a little more chuckle-worthy than the actual funnies. Among them: When asked when the last time was that he drove a car, the MC and bassist revealed that he owns a minivan. Perhaps that's why his crew has such an aversion to car thieves?Still, not the sweet ride we imagined for the 46-year-old rhymer (and stealer). He was also asked what he hates the most about living in the city, and his answer echoed a familiar idiom. "Drunk mthrfkrs that think my neighborhood is a movie set and that people don't actually live here, so it's okay to scream at 3 a.m.

October 9, 2013 –
Albert Hammond, Jr. has shared a new video from his still-fresh solo EP AHJ. The clip above gives the Strokes guitarist's warmly jangling single "St. Justice" a vivid narrative whose felt drama plays out in stark relief to Laurent Briet's black-and-white treatment. Therein, Hammond meets a love interest played by model Nina de Raadt. Together, they paint a charming portrait of domesticity — eating, bathing, and listening to music together (cutely, she doesn't seem to recognize the Strokes' catalog when Hammond offers to throw a record on the turntable). But the man's lyrics should clue us in as to the direction of the plot: "I got locked in myself and I don't know what to do / There are dreams in my eyes that now don't shine through." After a pretty steamy scene in which we see a whole lot of Hammond, the two have a bitter falling out, and the entire mood shifts.

October 9, 2013 –
Shaq Diesel is back! Um, sort of. There's no reason at this point — we're crossing our fingers though — to assume the voice you hear on this remix of Future's "Karate Chop" actually belongs to Shaquille O'Neal, but it's still a hilariously worthy listen. And little-known Toronto rapper ShaqIsDope deserves some credit for his ingenuity, assuming it's a fake. Considering the basketball star's other '90s side-hustle as Shaq-Fu, the idea that he'd return from retirement to take a few swings over this particular song is an attractive one. And who wouldn't want to hear the sports titan refer to himself as "big, black-ass David Beckham," or predict his decade-late 2020 induction into the NBA Hall of Fame?But fake Shaq seems surprisingly schooled on contemporary rap when he rhymes, "What's the word, man?

October 9, 2013 –
We're guessing that at some point in the last couple of years, Coolio took a look at his life, and realized ... well, that his legacy roughly amounted to one and a half memorable songs. Because ever since, he's been laughing and cooking so much, even college bros are starting to wonder if his mind is gone. Above, you'll find the freshly 50 rapper performing an impromptu acoustic version of "Gangsta's Paradise" with some coeds at their flat outside of an English university. Let's all pour a little jungle juice out from our Solo cups.As it turns out, the man born Artis Leon Ivey Jr.

October 9, 2013 –
Greetings From Tuskan is Belgium's Joëlle Lê, a gifted producer with a cinematic eye and a gentle ear who earned her first shine in 2006 with a gorgeous downtempo set dubbed Lullabies for the Warriors. She put her solo career on hold after that however, and didn't pop up again until 2009 as one half of Bike for Three! with Canadian indie-rap original Buck 65. After an inspired album, More Heart Than Brains, that project too seemed to fade into the annals of left-field electronica, but both are now finding new life.Below you'll find The Love From Afar, a free 12-song set from Tuskan (via the Circle Into Square label) that finds our host unspooling upbeat beauty on songs like "Vestal Adoration," and exploring calmer vistas via tracks like "I Wish I Was Stronger." Throughout, her piano-work and choice in found sounds reign supreme.